My Purest Pelli
by ezyl
Summary: Story of the Pellimore who loved Kludd, and the involvement of the Underground Nest Maids' Association. Discontinued.
1. Prologue

Prologue

"_Hermy, would you be so kind enough to finish off these feather raiders for me?" Synnk snapped at her apprentice, jostling the fitfully dosing younger snake with a sharp prod of her rosy-scaled tail. Being an unemployed nest maid snake in Tyto was not just incredibly embarrassing but also quite dangerous, and Synnk usually kept to herself (she was a very rebellious snake, and had tried to serve but was constantly being kicked out of the nest on accounts for being rude and extremely annoying). _

_But, just recently, she had come upon Hermy and rescued her from some very queer circumstances. Synnk had found Hermy coiled tightly around the brim of a rotting tree trunk, shivering and covered head to tail in dark, black bruises, deep bloody gashes around her neck and deep dents in her tail bones. The young snake had mumbled vaguely about some sort of attack by an incredibly large, moonfaced female barn owl (Synnk had came to realize that the young snake had some sort of speech problem and could not describe things clearly), and she had left it at that, caring for all of Hermy's wounds and scars. And now, after two full moons had passed (and owl mating season had come), Hermy was fully healed and ready to be trained to work for a traditional owl family (Synnk wasn't just teaching Hermy because she had nothing to do, but because young nest maid snakes had to learn their position in the forest ecosystem, and Hermy obviously had never studied the art before)._

"_Do you hear me, you splat-brained idiot?" (Using this swear in front of the owlets was how she got thrown out of the Multipunctata's hollow) Synnk coiled her tail around Hermy's head and gave the latter a rather hard whack on her head (this trick had caused a concussion in one of the Nebulosa's owlets), "Eat these feather raiders! My stomach is as full as a bucket!"_

_Not that _she_ knew what a bucket was. _She _had learnt it from one of the few barn owl families (the Occidentalis', to be exact) who had books. Books were fairly rare in Tyto, and Synnk couldn't read for racdrops. _

_Hermy began to stir from her cozy nook in the cramped hollow, and stretched her supply-built body to its full extent. Her scales glimmered as they caught the soft mellow glow of the setting sun. Hermy gave a huge yawn, and looked at Synnk. Immediately, the younger snake stiffened into full alertness, seeing the venomous glare in Synnk's eyes, "Wuhsat?" She managed to stutter._

"_I said –"_

_Synnk's sentence was stopped firmly when a resounding SNAP! crashed into both snakes' ear holes._

_And Synnk never got to finish her sentence, as a pair of sharp, pincer-like talons sliced to the air above them, groped around a bit, and snatched up a terrified Hermy._

_Synnk suddenly became de-paralyzed as she saw Hermy, struggling limply through the air. _This was not about to happen without me doing something about it!_ She though grimly, and then opened her mouth and bit down hard (though she had no teeth) on the base of that treacherous talon._

_Hermy was suddenly thrown out of the talons and launched mightily into the back of the hollow wall. Her head connected with the wall with a vibrating CRACK. _

_And now, although she didn't know how this happened (it was too quick for a blind snake's eye); Synnk was grasped firmly within the claws of the attacker. She watched in silent horror as the beautiful head of a young female barn owl emerges inside the hollow. The owl looks at her victim with a hard, icy glare before she bites Synnk's head clean off. _

_And then, grasping the dead body tightly, the owl spreads her wings wide and catches the swift, late autumn air as she floats off into the darkness._

_And when Hermy does wake up from her huge headache, all she sees is the lone, dull head of her former mentor. It stares back, the inanimate-once-animate head stares back, in utter disbelief._

_And, just as unbelievably, a single word that she had never heard before pops out of Hermy's head and into her mouth, bubbling up like the first strong currents of a river._

"Pella."


	2. Reflections of Passion

**A/N: This was actually a whole chapter that I wrote 4 months ago, but then I added a bunch of stuff and couldn't finish, so I split the chapter in two. Oh, and I apologize for taking so long to write. Blame the Service Project.**

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Chapter 1 – Reflections of Passion

Pellimore felt the cool evening breeze whip softly through her primaries, like light fluffy mounds of soft down. The slight chill ruffled through the fibers of her feathers, sending a run down her spine. The bloody remains of the nest maid she had just slayed was still clasped tightly in her sharp talons. Pellimore shifted her gaze from her flight path through the night to the clumsily torn end of the snake. Several pink, almost-gossamer scales clung to the vermilion fringe.

A couple of crimson droplets separated themselves from the serrated edge, and flew towards Pellimore's outstretched wings. They blotted out the gingery brown of her primaries. To the young owl, they seemed to shine like pinpricks of blinding light on the glossy sheen of her feathers. The owl gulped at the sight of it, and shook herself mentally (she was never truly comfortable with bloodshed, and hid her disability from the owls back home, disguising this weakness with the clever ruse of it being an "allergy").

But that was no matter; Pellimore had achieved her goal. The remaining adrenaline took one last sweep through her systems, and then ebbed away, its tingle ending in her talon tips. She felt herself beginning to tire. Weariness was creeping into her muscles after combat. The previous drench of sweat lifted off her skin in the wind, like an owl off a hungry fox. She flew on.

Her tiredness was of no importance. Her fear of blood wasn't either. In the end, it had been all worth it…now Pellimore had completed one full half her of her Pure Initiation, and if this task, killing a nest maid snake, was this easy, how hard could anything else be?

And yet, something still flickered in Pellimore's gizzard. A brave pulse struck with a dim yet dogged beat. A sliver of doubt dug in and furrowed beneath her heart. _Was it really worth it?_ Pellimore's timid side thought to herself. Was murdering an innocent being worth it? Was attacking and maiming that cute, helpless desert owl worth it?

_But it has to be._ Pellimore's reassurance came as quick as the doubt had; calmly, she pushed the miniscule sliver out of her mind. _That nest maid was living without a family to take care of; she's a disgrace to her slimy race. She ought to have been killed. The elf owl _(who was now living a flightless, spirit-dead life with seemingly gaping black holes from where her eyes had been, and mussed up, torn, feather shafts that had once held shining, beautiful hosts) _wasn't even_ pure_ or anything. It was just one of the few shameful populations of owls that will be wiped out soon enough…_Pellimore's ever-rational mind trailed off in a logically dignified manner. The inner turmoil between Pellimore's two separate sides had been going at it ever since the day she met…him.

_I'm going yoicks, _Pellimore thought, _yoicks in love, that is._

This was what had occupied her thoughts for the past few moons. This was her strength, the justice that she fed upon for energy and willpower. Her passion for him had led her to this spot, and she would keep working her way into _his _passion, until she won his heart. And she knew that, soon enough, she would get him. She remembered the look of admiration on his beautifully huge white face as she tore off the wings of the little elf owl. She remembered the little talk they had afterwards, and how he had leaned in a little more than usual towards her face, and she had felt so light-headed, so giddy with the little explosions going off merrily in her body, that she could faint. That was when she realized that she couldn't live without him, and so she knew that she had to do this. Never mind what was apparently right. As long as she had him to look forward to in her future, she was happy. She loved him.

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**A/N: I couldn't really remember what was going on, but then I checked. I know this chapters kinda cliffie but oh well I introduce Kludd next. **


	3. Kludd

**A/N: Just so you know, I know that Pellimore's nickname is Pelli. You'll see why its Pella, you'll see. :)**

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Chapter 2 – Kludd

The young owl scanned the dense forest undergrowth below. Forest sounds seemed to echo and bounce through the shreds of air. Pellimore could hear the windy drafts of air brushing its way past the sharp tips of the fir trees below, and dim, erratic pulses of several heartbeats. Her beak watered at the sound of baby rabbits mewling at their mother in hidden pockets of air underneath the forest floor, and whisperings of the River Hoole rushed through her ear slits like faint stirrings of a shadow in a beautifully bright light. Pellimore saw a grassy meadow, covered inconspicuously by a stand of dark firs. The grass seemed to shimmer on the meadow, and ripples shuddered through the surface of it like crests of waves in the Hoolemere Sea. A distant memory erupted in Pellimore's mind…

"…_and on that island far, far away between the foaming tridents of the sea, there was a great tree –"_

"_But Mother, the Great Tree is just a legend. It doesn't even exist."_

"_It does, Pella, it does. When one holds these legends dearly in their heart, the legend becomes reality."_

"_That's racdrops, mother – OW!"_

"_Pella! Do not EVER let me catch you talking like that!"_

"_Mama, what's 'racdrops' mean?"_

"_Hush, Noctus. That's a bad word. Don't ever use it. And Pella, do try to set a good example for your brother. Glaux knows where you learned that word."_

Pellimore sighed, her breath puffing out in small torrents of steam in the chill air.

_Glaux knew,_ she thought, _that I learned it from the Society._

Just days before, when mother was out hunting in the snow, and Noctus had been sound asleep (molting periods seemed to drain his energy), Pellimore had been visited by that strange group of barn owls. Of course, now they were no longer "strangers". Pellimore remembered her first meeting with the recruitment patrol.

"_Hello, young'un."_

"_My name is Pellimore."_

"_Very well then, Pellimore. I am Stryker, a Pure Guard Lieutenant."_

"_A Pure _what_?"_

Pellimore had watched the large moon-faced owl intently. He was a giant, and was rather well built. She could clearly make out the stiff, rippling muscles that bulged through his upper wings, and Stryker's talons seemed to have been sharpened and blackened to an extremely fine point that could probably shred a maple sapling in half (she later realized that these were battle claws, and had gazed in admiration at the gleaming tips). Several large, pink-rimmed scars cascaded through Stryker's down-scarce belly, as if some sort of wild cat had cruelly clawed him. The guard chuckled at Pellimore's round eyes, and went on to explain about the Tytonic Union of the Pure Ones. Pellimore listened as Stryker talked about the force's recent capture of an old Others' ruins, and her beak dropped lower and lower in awe at the sound of all the battles the Pure Ones had faced against other gangs of enemy owls.

There was still a waver of doubt in her mind, though. Killing sounded dangerous, and Pellimore wondered, if she joined, what would happen to Mother and Noctus?

She was convinced when she met Kludd.

"_And you are…Pella, I assume?"_

_He had used her nickname!_

"_Yes. I'm Pella. Pellimore to be exact."_

"_Such a lovely name." His voice was soft, and his drawl was heavenly. He looked over Pellimore, and his eyes lingered in hers for a moment; black against black. She felt his eyes harden and turn metallic black._

She had shuddered in joy as he complimented her, and she blinked rapidly.

"_Racdrops," he swore, as Stryker told them to get on their way._

Kludd was a moon cycle older than she was, and had already completed his Tupsi (Pellimore was still not sure what this phrase meant, and she was sure that it was going to be as easy as catching a bat on the fly). When Pellimore first set eyes on the handsome barn owl, her heart had started to beat at an incredibly fast rate, and she felt woozy. Just looking at his coal black eyes made her want to faint over. She was captivated by his white, firm face, and his tawny feathers. When he ruffled his feathers, she had the urge to run her beak along his feather shafts and straighten them all out.

And Pella was sure that Kludd liked her, too.

"_What's wrong, Kludd?" Pellimore asked. The two barn owls were perched side by side on a fir tree near Pellimore's nest._

_Metallic black eyes met hers again. "You're so beautiful."_

_She shivered, and fought the action to try and preen his down feathers._

So that was how Pellimore started with the Pure Ones. She had proven herself a great strategist, after battling with another Pure One trainee, Wortmore (he was a slim, wily owl, and his facial disk resembled more of a waning moon that a full one) and winning in just three moves (a jab in the belly, a hook in the wing, and a slash with one talon while the other one gripped Wortmore's neck), she had shown brutal strength as she attacked the little elf owl, and now she just proved herself even more worthy by killing this nest maid snake (the pink coil was still flopping around like a truce flag in the air).

Ah! There it was! The stone hollow, its giant stone tower leaning precariously to the north. The first time Pella visited this Others' hollow, she had been afraid of stepping into it, but Kludd vanquished the fear by nudging her forward softly with his beak (she had nearly fainted, and fell into the threshold without a thought of being frightened).

"_Come on, Pella…nothing to be scared of…I'm with you here…"_

She gulped at the sound of his voice in her memory. It seemed to awaken her to her surroundings, and she realized that she had just landed on the stone wall.

Following the legends of a couple of elderly Tytos, the castle the Pure Ones occupied had once contained a large, round stone block that the Others had carved a long time ago, even before Glaux. Many a festive banquet was held around the round stone tablet, and there were even more far-fetched stories of there being important meetings held by brave warrior Others to discuss something they called, "The Quest for the Only Gale" (this was utter racdrops to Pellimore; she had dismissed this old tale as nonsense that scared little owlets).

Exactly ten Pure One sentries encircled the castle walls, keeping a lookout for enemies and simultaneously swapping wet-pooper jokes (laughter was forbidden within the castle walls; the High Tyto had commanded it, but he couldn't enforce the rules outside the confines of the stone hollow). One of the guards made his way towards Pellimore, power-flapping upwards in a few graceful movements that made Pella's breath catch in her throat.

"Pella!" He hooted in the dusky breeze.

It was Kludd Alba, the love of her life.

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**A/N: I'll try to post more often. Unlike other authors, I allow flames, so flame all ya want! **


	4. Hermy Gets Hers

**A/N: Wow. That took a long time. Sorry, but I really had other stuff to do. : D hehe...yeah, so an inter-story scene.**

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Hermy slithered through the undergrowth of the forest, her pink scales clicking softly over the fir tree branches and wildcat droppings. She grimaced as she skated carefully over round little pellets, and groaned as she felt a wet one against her dry skin. Oh, racdrops. Ew.

There was much on the nest maid's mind. Though she had had a slight speech problem after that moon-faced owl incident, her thoughts were still sharp as any battle claw. But, the oddest thing had happened. It was almost as if that owl had opened her mind of thought, after making away with her speech. For Hermy now had a strange ability…while she was facing the full moon, she would sometimes receive (in some form of telepathical wavelength) a random thought, or name (the latter was more common). The names almost always had to do with whatever anonymous living thing she had encountered several hours before.

_I must tell someone_, she thought. _I must warn someone that a maniac owl group is invading the Forest of Tyto!_

And with this thought, the nest maid snake scampered through the earth, her intent fiery and her body moving at the fastest rate she had ever gone.

(So it wasn't surprising, minutes later that the unexercised maid was out of breath.)

_Pella, that's her name. I'm convinced of it_, the snake thought bitterly. _She killed my mentor. Oh, Synnk. I will get revenge for you. I swear I will._

Hermy's determination had grown and grown, ever since she left her first working hollow. She had served a premature pair of hippy northern saw-whets (she had left when she unintentionally spoke her mind about her distaste in midget owls becoming midget parents before they were even of age).

After that, she got attacked.

Ever since that incident, where she sustained such _terrible_ injuries from Nyra (_Oh yes, she knew her attacker's name now_), Hermy had been thoroughly shaken. She knew that she would have died, had not a brave little owl called Noctus intervened and drove the moon-faced owl off.

"_Good Glaux! Are you alright?" The little bird had Hermy held in a soft and reassuring grip, "my name is Noctus. I'm on a quest to save my sister."_

She had not heard from Noctus since, but she had wished him the best of luck in completing his quest.

The first hollow she slithered up was inhabited by a family of masked owls. Up the knot, she could hear the two owl chicks squabbling about a centipede. Oh, she almost missed her own hollow days!

"What do you want?" the father figure, a large masked owl with a tint in his brow, boomed down at Hermy (she was tempted to escape his stone hard gaze), "we already have a nest maid snake!"

"And she's a fine one, too," the mother added, her voice scratchy, almost as if she had swallowed a whole comb of honey, "we don't need some old stray usurping her position," she said Hermy's name with a hint of disgust embedded in her voice.

_What does usurp mean?_ Hermy's head was suddenly filled with this thought, _it sounds like _yarp_ to me._

Unbeknownst to the snake, a little barn owl on the other side of the forest was just about to think this.

"L-let me e-e-e-explain," Hermy stuttered. Racdrops on her stupid stuttering voice, "b-b-but th-th-there's a-a-a…"

"We don't want to hear your lame excuses, old windbag, and I'll feed you to a raccoon if you don't splat yourself out of here!" the mother threatened angrily, "now SHOO!" Her talons shot out from her side, and she kicked Hermy out of the hollow. Hermy felt herself free-falling, the rushing wind biting her dry snake skin harshly. The ground rushed towards her at a dizzying speed (though of course she really _couldn't_ see it coming at her)…

The two owlets watched in amusement as their mother started swearing.

_Mummy was beating up a nest maid, and they didn't give a sour racdrop about it._

CRUNCH.

Hermy moaned in pain, and stared defiantly up the hole. The family chose to ignore the snake, and went on with their business of tweener.

Hermy went on. Every family she visited, though, was uncompassionate and refused to listen to a word the nest maid had to say.

Discouraged, the snake wrapped herself up around a stump and muttered crossly until she was asleep.

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**A/N: Really? I think this story is getting a bit boring. Maybe I'll start on a crackfic. Maybe my stupid emo mood will go away.**

**Review, please, and flame if you want. It'll make my day.**


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